By the Numbers, 2nd Six Weeks

Below are the attendance numbers through the end of the 2nd six weeks:

Budget vs. Earned – Through 2nd Six Weeks

Difference

Earned

Budget

Earned v. Budget

ADA

1385.1624

1415

-29.8376

High School ADA

419.44

424.6

-5.16

SE FTE

45.3066

52.466

-7.1594

Mainstream ADA

48.29

50.272

-1.982

CATE

74.6761

79.437

-4.7609

GT Students

65

81.67

-16.67

Comp

1023.2

1007

16.2

Bilingual

10.63

10.1

0.53

Notes: HS ADA – used to calculate the High School Allotment – based on the ADA of students in grades 9-12.

SE FTE – special education FTEs. This number has steadily decreased over the last several years.

Mainstream ADA – Special education students that are served in regular classes throughout the school day. This number has dramatically increased over the last several years.

CATE – Career and Technology FTEs – Generated by students in agricultural science classes, technology classes, and consumer science classes.

Comp – Compensatory Education Numbers – Based on the average number of students on free or reduced priced meals.

Bilingual – ADA of students that are enrolled in our ESL program.

As is evident by the numbers for ADA, we are still significantly lower than the budgeted numbers. The budget numbers were used to make projections on state funding. With the numbers being this much lower, we will be earning less than what was budgeted. We will look at our impact these numbers are having on our state aid tomorrow.

Looking at the overall numbers, we are in good shape with the other categories of attendance. To help with our ADA numbers, the Board of Trustees recently approved suspending the transfer fees for student outside our district. By doing this, the goal is to bring in more students to help increase our overall ADA. Right now, our attendance percentage is very good. It is not a matter of students missing a lot of days: it is a matter of not having enough students enrolled to earn the state aid that was budgeted.

As in years past, the ending numbers from 08-09 were used to estimate the attendance numbers for 09-10. We anticipated having a slight rebound in overall ADA and used a fairly conservative estimate of 1415. This is the lowest ADA we have used for budgeting in at least five years. However, right now, we are not close to earning this ADA. With the funding system currently in place, the only way for a school district to earn additional money is to have additional ADA (outside of a tax rate election). So, for EISD to earn the amount that was budgeted for 09-10, we need more students. I encourage everyone to let their friends and neighbors know about the unique opportunity that the school board has made available to parents by suspending the transfer fees.